Absorbent for amalgam fillings



I/V VEA/TOR ATTORNEYS,

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Patented Jan.

J. W. DENNIS. v ABSORBBNT FOR AMALGAM PILLINGS.

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(No Model.)

WITNESSES 4o mined degree.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES IV. DENNIS, OF CINCINNATI, OI-IIO.

ABSORBENT FOR AMALGAM FlLLlNGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 553,451, dated January21, 1896.

Application filed September 23, 1895. Serial No. 563,408. (Nospecimens.)

T aZl whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES IV. DENNIS, of Cincinnati, in the county ofHamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Absorbentfor Amalgam Fillings, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to absorbents for amalgam fillings and to a methodof making the 0 same; and the object of the invention is to provide amaterial capable of being made into pads or plugs of any size or shapeadapted to enter a cavity of a tooth, the material being of such natureas to provide means for the 5 production of perfect non-shrinkableamalgam fillings by acting as an absorbent or attractor for the surplusor loose amalgam.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of theseveral 0 parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth,

and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indi- 5dicate corresponding parts in both the views.

Figure 1 is a plan view of a sheet of absorbent material for amalgamfilling, illustrating sundry pads as having been cut therefrom; and Fig.2 is a plan view of a sheet of the 0 same material, illustrating aslight modification in the composition thereof.

The invention may be said to consist primarily in pulverizing rubber andtin, the two articles being in such proportions that the rub- 5 ber willbecome in a measure saturated, or will hold a maximum quantity of tin.The compound thus made is partially vulcanized, the vulcanizationceasing at such a point as will leave the rubber pliable to a predeter-The object of this article is that various plugs, pads or forms may becut out therefrom and pressed by proper instruments into the cavity of atooth upon the amalgam, during the process of filling. The excess ofmercury will be extracted from the filling by the double process ofsuction and absorption of the amalgam by the tin contained in therubber, the mercury having, as is well known, a strong affinity for tin.

o The rubber pads,plugs or forms constructed as aforesaid, act in thecapacity of sponges and the tin as an attractor.

In Fig. 1 the sheet A of prepared material is illustrated as providedwith openings a, the said openings being consequent upon the removal ofportions of the sheet used as pads,

'ity by this method or process or by the use of this material inassociation with suitable instruments accomplishes among others thefollowing desirable results: first, it obviates the necessity for theexcessive and painful force usually required to obtain a favorableresult; secondly, by drawing from each piece of filling, as it is addedto the mass occupying the cavity of the tooth, the excess of mercury,

what is known as balling, or the tendency to return to the globular formof all metallic atoms in association with mercury or dental amalgam, isprevented, thus leaving the tooth with an absolutely non-shrinkablefilling. So effective is this material in its action on the amalgamfilling that even after the filling is apparently dry and hard, by acontinued pressure upon the finished surface for one or two minutes thesurface will again present sufficient mercury to amalgamate an atom ofgold foil, and by ceasing the pressure upon and removing the absorbentplug or pad the sur plus mercury will quickly disappear, beingreabsorbed by the filling, thus proving that so long as there is moremercury in the filling than is required for the amalgamation or union ofthe combined metals it may by the use of this device be brought to thesurface and removed.

I desire it to be understood that although rubber is preferred as thebody of the improved absorbent material, the said body may be made ofpulp, fabric, felt, or like material, brought to a consistencycorresponding substantially to that heretofore described with referenceto the rubber.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- 1. An absorbent of mercury during the process offilling teeth with amalgam, the same consisting of a body of softmaterial, and tin structing an absorbent for amalgam fillings, whichconsists in saturating comminuted rubber with comminuted tin andpartially vulcanizing the mass, as and for the purpose set forth.

JAMES W. DENNIS.

WVitnesses EDWARD S. RAWSON, LoUIs A. BROWNBEOK.

